Ash Wednesday comes around again

Ashes line the grate
after the great snow storm.
Chill strikes down the chimney;
a ghost stepping over the grave
of last night’s fire.
Ashes lift and shiver,
settle and sigh, whisper
to the warm wood tales of passion;
eagerly, we consume their heat,
lying in the dust,
brushing away reminders
of how it always ends
until tomorrow’s embers,
spent, draw us back
to kneel among the ashes
with dustpan and brush
and the unclean slate

About Rosalind C Hughes

Rosalind C Hughes is an Episcopal priest, poet, and author living near the shores of Lake Erie. After growing up in England and Wales, and living briefly in Singapore, she is now settled in Ohio. Rosalind is the author of A Family Like Mine: Biblical Stories of Love, Loss, and Longing , and Whom Shall I Fear? Urgent Questions for Christians in an Age of Violence, both from Upper Room Books. She loves the lake, misses the ocean, and is finally coming to terms with snow.

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